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Johnny Tremain

Esther Forbes

Key Facts

Quiz

Study Questions

1.

In what ways
is Johnny Tremain’s life shaped by the social and economic practices
of colonial America on the eve of the Revolution? What does the
novel reveal about these practices?

In the time period leading up to the Revolutionary
War, the customs and values of the colonies were evolving. Some
traditional practices were still in place, while others were slowly
changing. Although America had begun separating from England, the
colonies still followed some of its traditional socioeconomic practices.
For example, in colonial Boston, education was not compulsory. Although
literacy was higher in the colonies than in England, the ability
to read, write, and do simple arithmetic was considered a solid
education outside the upper class. Unless a child came from a wealthy
family, his or her labor was necessary to his or her family’s support.
Families paid skilled artisans to take their sons in as apprentices.
In return for the valuable training the apprentice received, all
products of the apprentice’s labor belonged to his master for seven
years. As a result, Johnny begins training and working as a silversmith
from a very young age. Because his parents are deceased, he is fortunate
to live with the Laphams, who are a middle-class family. Johnny
had an incredible opportunity for upward mobility by working with
a skilled tradesman like Mr. Lapham. Thus, his dream of owning a
silver shop in colonial America is realistic. Johnny would not have
this opportunity if he lived in England, where social class dictated
one’s station in life.

2.

What does
Johnny Tremain reveal about marriage customs in colonial America?

While it is true that colonial Americans
enjoyed more social mobility than the inhabitants of Britain, the
marriage possibilities available to colonials were still determined
to a large extent by their social class. Mrs. Lapham is eager to
marry one of her daughters to Johnny because there are no sons to
inherit the silver shop. Moreover, Johnny is her father-in-law’s
most promising apprentice, and, therefore, the one with the most
future earning potential. Although he is only fourteen years old,
Johnny is a good marriage prospect for any middle-class family in
colonial America. Social status, and not love, often influenced
relationships in America, just like in England. However, although
it was normal to marry for money and not love, many younger colonials
did marry for love, suggesting a separation from British customs.
For example, Dorcas will not marry Mr. Tweedie to keep the silver
shop in the Lapham family; instead she marries the poverty-stricken
Frizel, Jr., because she falls in love with him.

3.

What role
does religion play in Johnny Tremain’s world?

Religion plays an important role in Johnny’s
colonial world because it directly affects laws and societal norms.
A person could be punished for not observing religious law, such
as the decree against working on Sundays. However, at the time in
which the novel is set, some religious restrictions on colonial
society were becoming more relaxed. Mr. Lapham is strictly pious,
but his family regards him as old-fashioned. Mrs. Lapham encourages
Johnny to finish John Hancock’s basin on time by working on Sunday,
for example. The younger generation embraced more relaxed religious
attitudes, partly because of the increasingly cosmopolitan character
of the city, and also because of an ideological shift from religion
to science as a source of truth and enlightenment. As a result,
Johnny and other colonials routinely break old religious practices.
Thus, the Boston Observers can meet on Sunday and secretly plan
their rebellion against England.

4.

Contrast
James Otis’s rousing speech about the need for revolution with Samuel
Adams’s attitude toward rebellion. Which do you think Johnny finds
more appealing, and why?

The novel suggests that Samuel Adams and
James Otis had very different attitudes toward the revolution. Adams’s
personal history implies that he may want to start a war with Britain
out of revenge. The British Parliament ruined his father’s finances
by destroying the bank where he kept his money. Adams’s rhetoric
expresses his anger and outrage at the British, as evidenced by
his posters and propaganda. He tries to rouse the colonists to resist
British rule by using words that convey that England is an inhuman,
machine-like enemy. He does not focus on the natural rights of man
and the independent spirit of the colonists. Rather, Adams expresses
how the British government is oppressive, a tyranny that is destroying
the lives of the colonists. War is a necessary evil that the colonists
must use to gain their independence from such a tyrannical government.

On the other hand, James Otis wants to fight so that
“a man can stand up.” He challenges Adams’s reasons for fighting
the war, which are not for peace but for destruction and conflict.
Otis wants the colonists to have the right to choose who rules over
them, and not fight simply to protect the money of the Americans.
His rousing speech to the Boston Observers focuses on the natural
rights that free men should enjoy. He has an idealistic vision of
an independent America; however, he cannot drive the colonists to
war merely on ideals and hopes. Adams’s passion and fervor, coupled
with Otis’s reasons and ideals, ignite the revolutionary spirit.

James Otis may have loftier reasons than Samuels Adams
for inspiring the Revolutionary War. However, the end result is
the same, which is that many colonists will sacrifice their lives,
and kill many innocent British men, to achieve American independence. Samuel
Adams did his duty, and he was able to incite many colonists to
fight the war, particularly when many Americans were still loyal to
the British. However, Otis provided the colonists with rational, heartfelt
reasons for fighting the war. At first, Johnny is similar to Adams,
and he searches for ways to get revenge instead of to forgive. Later,
Johnny redirects his passions and fervor and wants to fight for the
rights of his fellow men. Thus, Johnny’s patriotism toward his country
is based on both Otis’s and Adams’s attitudes. Otis’s soft, low
voice and Adams’s passion are appealing in different ways. When
Johnny dreams about the lobsters with human eyes, he also sees how
both sides of the war effort are unappealing: Hancock’s pity of
humanity and Adams’s pleasure at cruelty. Ironically, both of these
attitudes led to a war that caused the loss of human lives, and also
the freedom of the human spirit.

Suggested Essay Topics

1. How does Jonathan Lyte serve
as a foil to Johnny? How does their relationship dramatize the tension
between the colonies and Britain?